Article by:
Mark Bate
Head of Business Development

To paraphrase Gus Grissom in Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book, The Right Stuff: “No Bucks, No Buck Rogers”.  A situation many NATO nations find themselves in when it comes to training pilots, particularly fast jet and rotary, as the capacity to meet demand does not exist. 

So, what has NATO been doing to address this very real issue?

The NATO Flight Training Europe (NFTE) initiative materialised in the margins of the 2021 NATO Summit in Brussels. From this came the need to coordinate the delivery of flying training requirements to meet the security challenges of the future for alliance members.​

To engage the process, a small team was established within the NATO Support & Procurement Agency (NSPA), Capellan, Luxembourg.

It was given the lofty goal of facilitating multi-national flying training via a single NFTE coordination function. 

This was envisaged as being delivered through a network of harmonised training campuses, as shown above, delivering world-class training in a cost-efficient manner through innovation and collaboration with partners, nations, and industry, to expand capacity where it is required. ​

A phased approach to the problem has been orchestrated and achieved the intent of Phase One.

First UK trainees

Ascent is positioned on the relevant Industry Interface Group (IIG) under NATO Industry Advisory Group (NIAG) structure, and we are due to receive our first trainees through the co-ordination function following the accreditation of RAF Cranwell and RAF Shawbury.

Phase One of the initiative achieved initial operating capability in March 2024, enabling collation of bi-lateral training agreements and establishing an enduring coordination function. 

Full operating capability of Phase One was achieved in October 2024, seeing the placement of trainees into 2025’s training plan, establishment of the IIG, and NFTE being given its own budget and staff.

In achieving the above, a common framework has been established which has enabled: 

  • Harmonisation. Minimum training requirements by phase and delivers a NATO Standards Recommendation (STANREC)
  • Technical arrangements. Common Gov-to-Gov exchange with a single Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (Phase One) enabling a single point of entry to access campuses
  • Campus accreditation, catalogue, and allocation.  Minimum baseline standards, available courses across the campuses, slot availability, and allocation via the Steering Board

Problems moving to Phase Two

The problem lies in Phase Two of the initiative, to address the growing shortfall that cannot be met within existing capacity – see image above from NFTE briefing in Berlin, October 2024 – for the period 2025-2029. 

This phase is set to explore options around commercial solutions through industry engagement through the aforementioned IIG. 

This could see commercial enhancements dropped into existing campuses through to the establishment of bespoke NFTE campuses, which also contain a sovereign schoolhouse, although the ambition of creating a pseudo-Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program (ENJJPT) is not a stated objective.

Organisation and governance are typically bureaucratic, but easy to navigate, and the UK is in a good position, with the Principal Officer, Chairman of the Steering Board, and Chairman of the IIG all being from the UK. 

In terms of working groups associated with each pipeline, there are currently six: Fast Jet, Rotary Wing, RPAS, Multi-Engine, Missing Aircrew, and Phase 6 operational training (Red Air).

Inevitable politics

The initiative is in its infancy and the inevitable politics, either national or industrial, will be played out before our eyes. 

However, as Lt Colonel Lloyd Boothby said: “How do you train for the most dangerous game in the world by being as safe as possible?” This is the question I pose to the business, along with our Babcock and Lockheed Martin shareholders: ‘Are you willing to get off the perch and into the control zone and address this wicked problem in the Rittel and Webber sense?’

Ascent will continue to shape the NFTE initiative through the IIG and I call upon those within the business to offer thoughts as to what quick wins can be achieved, what this may look like in the future, and how this can play into our own MFTS 2.0 strategy here in the UK, to give positional advantage that can maximise returns.

Albert Einstein said: “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think”. This speaks to cultivating critical thinking and adaptability and not just mastering technique. Applied to Ascent, this means don’t be constrained by the structure we operate in today, or as Mark Twain wrote: “If you want to change the future, you must change what you’re doing in the present.

Imagery provided from NFTE briefing